BlackBerry expected to launch its first QWERTY keyboard Android phone KEYone in India

BlackBerry KEYone with a physical keyboard

It seems BlackBerry is still not ready to leave the competitive smartphone market anytime soon. The Canadian phone maker's latest offering expected to to be launched on August 1, BlackBerry KEYone, is another one of its effort to keep up with the competition.

According to a report on tech website digit.in, Blackberry is going to host an event with its India partner Optiemus Infracom, where it can unveil the BlackBerry KEYone for Indian markets.

But has it done enough to match up to the likes of Samsung, Apple and OnePlus?  The KEYone packs a 3 GB RAM, 32 GB of internal storage which is expandable up to 256 GB via microSD card and a 3505 mAh battery.

It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 processor. The phone has 12 MP dual-LED flash camera with face detection on rear and 8 MP front camera with support for 1080p video recording and a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 1620 x 1080 pixels. It runs the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat.

The specifications of the phone are decent but perhaps the price is where it falls back. The handset will cost around Rs 40,000.

The phone’s speciality is its four-row BlackBerry keyboard with touch support. It supports a 'flick type' feature that lets you flick predicted words onto the screen as you type.

A user can also create touch gesture and assign dedicated keys for specific actions. The spacebar can double up as a scroll wheel making the navigation easier while reading and browsing.

The company gave initial hints about its launch at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January after which the phone was officially introduced in World Mobile Congress in February.